Chapter 9
Luke
Ithink we need to talk to Moon,” Luke told Divya over lunch that afternoon.
“You gotta love this city. It’s four in the afternoon and we still haven’t had dessert,” Divya said. She was browsing the dessert menu at Maleducat, the restaurant Sol had ordered them to go to after their interview with Sandro Palau had been indefinitely postponed.
“It gets old.” Luke said. It wasn’t that he wasn’t fond of the Barcelona culinary scene or that he was tired of eating invariably late—but he missed London.
Trying to get a decent cup of tea in Barcelona was an absolute impossibility.
Plus, sometimes he just felt like grabbing a bacon sandwich on sourdough for lunch and eating it on a bench in the park.
He didn’t need to make an experience out of every single meal.
“You sound like a proper grump.” Divya was smiling.
He sighed. “You know I get grumpy after three days outside of London.”
“You need to get back to the motherboard.”
“I do,” he admitted. “But don’t ignore me. We need to talk to Moon.”
“Why do you want to talk to them? Or do you fancy getting even? I get to witness a weird phone interaction with your partner and now you get to witness one with mine?”
“It’s not that.” Perhaps it was a bit of that. “But you know we need more information about Leonardo, the new show, the role he’d be playing, and how that correlates to his disappearance.”
“What if there’s no correlation?”
He gave her a stern look from across the table. “Are you hearing yourself?”
She let out a breath and nodded. “I’ll text Moon. Tell them we need to talk.”
“Thanks. What do we do about this Sandro Palau business? It looks as if the chap had a lot to win from Leonardo’s sudden disappearance,” Luke said.
“Yesterday night the theater was packed with journalists and critics because it was supposed to be Leonardo’s last night on the stage for a long time.
Instead of that, they were forced to watch Palau. ”
“Convenient for him, definitely. But apparently they liked what they saw, if we’re to believe what we’re being told.”
The staff at the Casanova had told them that the previous night's performance had resulted in the understudy giving an incredible performance. As a result, Palau had been inundated with media requests and interviews, and that was why he’d been unable to talk to the detectives yet.
“The headlines seem to verify that version.” Luke handed Divya his phone with a couple of articles from two of the main local newspapers raving about Palau's powerful work.
“Literally no one knew who he was a couple of days ago. And now they’re writing headlines about him. Leonardo’s disappearance was definitely convenient for Sandro.” Divya skimmed through the articles Luke had found.
“We still shouldn’t jump to conclusions and we should try to talk to him.” Luke sighed.
“Absolutely, but he’s not making it easy.”
“I think we can still find out where he lives.” Luke didn’t want to ask for help. But he would.
The look that Divya leveled at him was all amused curiosity. “We do?”
He sighed again. “Sol has lots of contacts in Barcelona.”
“It’s a good thing that we’re working in Barcelona then.”
“I’d still prefer to be working in London.” Where it was Divya and him who had all the necessary contacts.
“I already knew that,” she scorned him. “Can we have the cheesecake now? Sol told me I really needed to try it.”
He ran a hand over his face, resigned. “Let’s have the cheesecake.”
He was sure he would pack on at least a couple more pounds before they left this food-obsessed city.
···
After lunch they relocated to Divya’s hotel room, which had been purposely chosen in walking distance from Sol’s tiny flat in Barcelona.
She was probably still working and Luke preferred not to bother her.
Three people working on different things from her not-that-big dining room table was definitely too many people.
Even if the terraced house he and Sol shared on the South Bank of London had been Sol’s property before he’d moved in with her, he now thought about the place as their home.
Sol had made all the efforts to make him feel that way.
She’d overstuffed certain areas of her closet with her clothes to make room for his things in other areas previously occupied by her.
She’d been happy to replace expensive mugs and plates for more informal dinnerware that better suited both their personalities.
She’d cleared space for him in her home office that now was also his home office and where he’d hung his prized framed Moonlighting poster.
She’d even proposed to change some of the furniture—but he was happy with the selections she’d made.
But when it came to the tiny rooftop flat she had in Barcelona—and even if it was where they’d kissed for the first time—it was her place.
Perhaps it was that they only spent a few days there from time to time and he’d had no occasion to put his touch on anything.
Had Sol realized that he didn’t feel the flat was his other home—like it clearly was for her?
He hoped she hadn’t just assumed that it was because the only place he could really be at home was London. But could that be the problem?
He shook those thoughts aside as Divya sat on the tiny desk of her hotel room and he sat on the bed. His colleague dialed the number and put the telephone on speakerphone on top of the desk. Television producer—and Divya’s romantic partner—Moon Scott picked up the phone after one tone.
“Hi, Sugar. How’s Barcelona?”
Luke smiled in Divya’s direction. She just blushed.
“Hi, Moonbeam. Luke is here with me and you’re on speaker.”
“Oh, hi Luke. How are you? I’m sorry I insisted on keeping you in Barcelona with this case!”
“No problem.” He almost sounded like he didn’t mind. Almost.
“So. What do you have for me? Did you find Leonardo? Is he okay?”
“We haven’t found him—yet,” Divya said. “And I’m afraid we still don’t know what happened to him. Which is why we were hoping for a word with you, see?”
“With me?” Moon’s voice was tinged with surprise.
“We need to understand a little bit better what was going through Leonardo’s mind before he went missing.” Luke explained. “There’s the chance he was kidnapped. Has there been any other communications, other than the note, clarifying what should be offered in exchange for him and to whom?”
“We haven’t gotten anything at Meshflixx. I just talked to his publicist, the family has heard nothing,” Moon said. “You still think he was kidnapped?”
“Don’t you?” Divya asked her.
“He’s just an actor! Everyone loves him. Who would want to take him?” Moon seemed to want to list all the reasons the detectives had to be mistaken.
“An overzealous fan who wants the Irrefutably Sexy Leonardo Pascual just to themself, perhaps? Do you know if there was someone like that in Leonardo’s orbit? A stalker?” Luke asked Moon.
“I mean he’s extremely popular because of the pirates’ show—and because he’s gorgeous. But nothing out of the ordinary, I think. But let me ask his people. His manager, agent or, publicist would probably know better.” There were some scratching noises and Luke assumed Moon was taking some notes.
“Can you tell us about the new show?” Luke asked.
“I signed an NDA expressly forbidding me from talking about the new show with anyone not directly involved in the production of the show.” Moon’s tone was apologetic but firm.
“Moonbeam, it’s just us.” Every time Divya used the affectionate term with her lover, she sounded sweeter than Luke had ever heard her. Her ears turned a bit redder too. “We won’t be babbling around. We just need to do our job. Plus, you hired us, remember?”
There was a silent pause followed by a long exhalation and Luke was sure Divya had convinced the television producer.
“I was finally promoted from creative liaison—which is basically a fancy way of saying assistant—to fully fledged producer for this new show.” The tone in Moon’s words told Luke he’d been mistaken in his assumptions.
“I have a better job, way better salary, more creative control, but also more responsibility. Which is why it was me hiring you directly. I understand why you want to know more about the show. But I’ll have to check with legal first to see what I can tell you. ”
“You realize we’re pressed for time, right?” Divya’s voice had lost most of its sweetness. “You want Leonardo found quickly because every day he’s missing is one more day the show is in limbo and you risk it never happening. Plus, we don’t even know if he’s all right.”
“I promise it’ll be quick but you have to understand.
If Meshflixx decides I’ve broken an NDA, the show not happening will be the least of our problems. I’m still worried about Leonardo though.
I hope he’s doing okay. To be honest, I thought this was some sort of stunt from him to get himself a couple of days off of work.
I was convinced he’d show up on an island, fresh-faced and tanned and that would be all. ”
“Wait, so you don’t think something happened to him?” Luke double-checked.
“He’s been doing projects back-to-back, he has to be tired.
Fitting in the Spanish leg of the play before the new show was a stretch from the beginning.
Especially because theater can be very taxing.
I really thought he’d just faked his own disappearance to have a mini vacation.
It wouldn’t be the first time he did something like that.
I just wanted you folks to have him found soon so that we didn’t miss many shooting days.
But now I’m getting worried. I’m gonna go harass all the lawyers in the organization, and I promise I’ll have an answer for you tonight. Wish me luck.”
They hung up the phone and Divya was very clear in her thoughts. “Showbiz people, mate!”
“Tell me about it.” Luke had suffered his own share of awkwardness and absolute astonishment at some of Sol’s behavior because of her association with the business. “So Sugar and Moonbeam, uh?” He teased his colleague with his best smile.
“Oh, shut up!”